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schizoauthoressTitle: The Weight of His History, The Power of Her Spirit
Author: D.L.SchizoAuthoress
Rating: PG
Spoilers: speculation based on the World's Finest #1 preview image
Warnings: wild speculation, mild language
Word Count: 3074
Summary: She's Supergirl of Earth-2... but her friend is no longer Robin. It's time for a change.
Note: There are a few instances of "Earth-2 Kryptonese" based on the bits of language I constructed for an RP account. I will translate as needed in brackets nearby. Assume a translation convention on her thoughts, though they'd be mostly in Kryptonese with some code-switching to English.
Word of the Day: filiopietistic, adjective: Pertaining to reverence of forebears or tradition, especially if carried to excess.
The Weight of His History, The Power of Her Spirit
"We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies."
-- Shirley Abbott
"Sorry I startled you, gentlemen. I promised my cousin I'd wait a few more months before revealing myself, but when I saw the trouble you were having, I decided I couldn't wait! My cousin you already know," Kara Zor-L said with a smile, tapping one finger against the insignia on her chest, "as Superman."
Wildcat and the Flash stared at her. Kara smirked.
"You can call me Supergirl."
****
Years later...
"I can't take this anymore!" Kara yelled. Even at her most upset, she managed to modulate her voice to keep from hurting her teammates. Sure, the Justice Society -- especially Wildcat -- seemed to be doing everything possible to piss her off, with the misogynistic and patronizing attitudes they tried to defend as 'old-fashioned', but that didn't mean they'd earned having their eardrums blown out. But she wasn't sure if she could keep her control, so she took to the skies.
'I'm just as good as Superman! Hell, I'm just as old as Superman, when it comes down to it. It isn't my fault that Jor-L had better resources and made a faster rocket -- that Kal arrived decades ahead of me and established his own career as a superhero before I'd made half the trip to Earth.' Kara thought unhappily as she flew higher and higher. The thinning atmosphere didn't bother her -- in marked contrast to her memories of the past seven years on Earth. 'But I'm still treated as a little girl trying to live up to Superman's legacy.'
Kara had feared that this might happen. But she had just as much right to wear the family crest for the House of L. She was proud of her family and her alien heritage, and didn't want to stop displaying her connection to Krypton just because people kept finding her lacking in comparison to Superman.
She was too angry -- Superman would have stayed calm where she lost her temper. She made more mistakes than he ever had -- which she doubted; it had probably just been too long ago for people to remember in detail. She caused more property damage -- a blatant lie; people were just more forgiving of collateral damage in wartime. But public opinion was firm on the matter: she was not as good as Superman. Kara was pretty sure that Supergirl's primary 'sin' was being a super girl.
Her flight path traced the curve of the moon before she sped further from the sun.
'I've put up with it this long... but I don't know if I want to continue swallowing my anger.' Kara scanned the void, letting her mouth curve up into a hard little smile when she caught sight of a meteoroid heading for the Solar System. Given the planetary orbits, it wouldn't hit anything as it tumbled through space... but she could definitely hit it. She glanced back to make sure that the debris wouldn't impact anything, and caught sight of a familiar blue-and-red streak of motion -- her smile faded.
Superman saw that he'd caught her eye, and he indicated the moon -- they would need the atmosphere to carry on the conversation he wanted to have. Kara rolled her eyes and threw a punch at the passing meteoroid. It didn't shatter into pieces, because the blow wasn't aimed properly; only a chunk of it sheared off under her fist, and the trajectory altered so that it was headed toward the asteroid belt. After making sure it wouldn't hurt anything on its altered course, Kara abandoned space and followed her cousin to the surface of the moon.
"Kara, what's going on with you?"
"What's going on with me?" Kara repeated, scowling darkly. "Why is it my fault? Why am I the only one who has to change my behavior when there's a problem?"
"Kara..." he said gently, "am I really the one you're angry with?"
"Yes!" she shouted. "Because you're Superman! Because everyone judges Supergirl on the standard you set, and you're impossible to live up to!"
He reached out, laid one big hand over her shoulder and the other against her cheek. Kara turned away, trying to keep him from feeling the tears that ran down her face. The sadness in his voice made her think she'd probably failed at that:
"I didn't know... I didn't know you felt you had to."
"Well, I do," Kara retorted in a low voice. "That's what everyone else expects me to do when they see our family crest on my chest."
Kal drew her into his arms for a tight hug. Kara's pride made her want to fight the hug off, but she did need the comfort -- she hugged him back just as tightly, grinning when that drew a soft "oof!" of surprise from him.
"I'm sorry, Kara. What can I do to help?"
Kara laughed. Kal's instinct to be a hero was relentless. She pulled back and answered, "I don't know yet. I need to think about what to do. But I don't know if being Supergirl is good for me anymore."
Kal kissed her cheek, smiling with paternal affection. (Maybe it was because they actually were family of some kind, but his attitude had rarely struck her as patronizing.) "You don't have to be Supergirl if you don't want to. Because you'll always be Kara Zor-L, and that's the girl I'm proud of."
****
It was nice to get support from her cousin, but Kara needed something more. She flew home and grabbed a large, prepacked shoulder bag, then headed for Gotham City. It was the matter of seconds, once she arrived at her destination, to quick-change from Supergirl to Karen Starr. She pulled her hair up into a bun and applied a light gloss to her lips at normal speed to finish up, then walked out of the security cameras' blind spot and opened the roof-access door of Cranston, Grayson & Wayne.
The staircase led to a door near the elevator bay, so the partners' receptionist didn't look surprised when Karen Starr strolled up to his desk. "Is Ms. Wayne free, Paul?"
The receptionist consulted something on his computer. "Well, she's got a business lunch set up for later today, Ms. Starr, but it's with the junior partners and I can reschedule... right now she's in a meeting with a client."
"Thanks, Paul, you're fantastic," Karen complimented him with a smile.
"It's only because I legitimately feared for my life when Ms. Wayne found out I'd turned you away the first time." Paul said it with a little smile of his own, but Karen was pretty sure there was truth under the flippant statement.
"Don't be silly," Karen joked back, "If she killed you, she'd have to break in a whole new receptionist, and who has time for that these days?"
Paul chuckled, and Karen took that as a cue to go sit down. He busied himself with shuffling Helena's schedule for tomorrow, and she pulled a black leather portfolio from her shoulder bag and started going over a proposal from the head programmer of her team. Ultimate Computor Corporation, and especially the people she worked directly under, was good about merit-based hiring and promotion. She was being offered a project that might lead to a promotion, same as two men on the team, and was pretty sure she could take on the responsibility.
Karen jotted down a note once she was done going over the details, to remind herself to call Chuck Barrows back after lunch, to accept.
She looked up at the sound of Helena's voice. The attorney was shaking hands with her client, and saying, "Thank you for coming in, Mr. Rivera. I'm sure we have a strong case here."
Karen waited until the man had left to get to her feet and walk over to Helena. Helena smiled brightly at her and pulled her into a hug.
"Hey! I was just about to head to lunch with--"
"With Ms. Starr," Paul interrupted. "I told the junior partners we were rescheduling for tomorrow. No major conflicts, ma'am."
"Thank you, Paul." Helena said gratefully, then sent an amused glance Karen's way. "I'll just get my purse, then. Be right out."
****
When they got to the bar & grill that they often ate lunch at, Karen ordered the prime rib peppersteak sandwich (with a small wood-fired BBQ chicken pizza and double-order of steak fries on the side) while Helena opted for the roasted vegetable wrap. The attorney wasn't a vegetarian, but she also wasn't a Kryptonian and didn't require such a heavy calorie load for the midday meal.
"So," Helena said, setting her Arnold Palmer down after taking a long sip, "is this visit motivated by business or friendship?"
"Seething rage," Karen answered with a wry look, taking a deep drink of her cola.
Helena put a hand to her mouth, affecting a shock that she clearly didn't actually feel. "Uh-oh."
Karen explained -- in a low voice, impossible to understand if one wasn't sitting at their table -- how today's after-skirmish criticisms from "the old guard" had been the last straw, how she'd lost her temper and been confronted by her cousin. She confessed that she was thinking of giving up her identity as Supergirl and making a new one.
"...but I just don't know what to do. Who to be." Karen glanced at Helena, encouraged by the open expression on her friend's face. "And I was hoping... since you've kind of made 'the leap' yourself, that you might have some ideas?"
"Mm," Helena made a thoughtful noise. She'd been a year younger than Karen -- then just Kara Zor-L -- when the other woman had made her debut as Supergirl. She'd also been Robin at the time, a role she'd started as her father's junior partner in the latter half of his crime-fighting career (begun after her mother's untimely death). When she began working at the law firm, Helena had also begun thinking of a different vigilante persona. Her father had died three years ago, when Helena was eighteen. That might have been a good time to make the change, but instead she'd surrendered the "Bat" mantle to Dick Grayson and continued as Robin at his side.
In any case, she had been quite certain of what she didn't want to be. That had been what led her to create and don the identity of the Huntress. She didn't want to continue as Robin, a role she associated with her teenage years. She definitely didn't want another of Dick's hand-me-down identities and dismissed Blackwing out of hand. Taking on Batwoman as an identity would place her firmly in the shadow of Batman, and Catwoman was an emotional landmine she just couldn't deal with yet.
The Huntress was Helena's invention, and Helena was the Huntress. No burdens, no ties to the past that she didn't allow -- an independent heroine.
"I think... you need to think about what you like about your current identity," Helena finally said, in the same low tone to keep from being overheard. As she'd thought of what to say, the two women had started eating their respective lunches in companionable silence. "Why have you kept it so long, when people and their bullshit have bothered you? If you know that reason, you know what you'll want for your new persona."
Karen nodded, mouth too full of pizza to allow conversation without a gross-out. She finished chewing, swallowed, and said, "That makes sense."
As Karen took another swig of cola, Helena asked, "So... do you know why? Wanna talk it out?"
"I'm pretty sure I know why." Karen rolled her eyes fondly as Helena attacked the remaining half of her veggie wrap. "I've got the same heritage as he does, and I don't want to look like I'm giving it up because..." her voice took on a self-mocking note, "people are mean to me."
"Heh."
"Which isn't why I want to change, you know?" Karen shrugged. When Helena nodded, she continued, "People are gonna judge everything I do, it's part of the superhero job. I want them to judge just me. Not me against my cousin."
"You need to do some research into your heritage, I think. Find something that's meaningful, but won't put people in mind of him right away."
****
"Dzma..." [No...]
Kara rolled her eyes and flicked her finger against the computer's touch-screen, dismissing information about ancient Kryptonian gods and goddesses. She was sitting in her Symbioship, floating over the Arctic. (Unlike Kal, she didn't feel the need to build an entire Fortress, but she kept her starship in working condition -- mostly for the memory banks in the shipboard computer.)
"Dzma..."
Another finger-flick dismissed an article on Kryptonian fauna. There was no way she was going to use Rondor or Snagriff as a codename, no matter how badass the animals themselves had been. And Crystal Bird sounded like a stripper name -- the actual Kryptonese name for the animal was far too complicated for English-speakers to pronounce.
"Dzma!" Kara made a face and stabbed her finger against the 'close' button on the screen. She was not going to go by Nightwing or Flamebird. The last thing she needed was for someone to find out the backstory of those names and decide that they could be her partner. "Augh!"
'This is impossible! I have no idea where to start... I'm just... wandering through this information at random.' Kara rested her chin on the palms of both hands and stared moodily at the family crest etched into the top of the touchscreen's frame. After a moment, she sighed and brushed her fingertips against the lines, tracing the diamond shape. "Ukr-te..." [Father...]
She had tried looking up other relatives in the House of L. But it all reminded her too much of Kal. Kara sighed and looked back down at her hand, only to find that it had drifted to the control panel that would activate the virtual simulator -- or at least, that panel would, if she hadn't disconnected the controls her first week on Earth, destroying one of the important components with heat vision.
The temptation to immerse herself in the familiar virtual environment -- the Krypton that her parents had programmed to occupy her mind on her long journey -- was strong at times, stronger when she was feeling emotional. Kara didn't want to risk losing herself in a simulation when people needed her in the real world. (She could, of course, reconstruct the component, but that would take time and engage the logical part of her brain. She wanted it to be more complicated than entering commands with a keypad.)
That didn't mean that she stopped missing her parents. Her father... her mother...
"Ieiu-te!" [Mother!] Kara shouted, slapping her forehead. 'Oh, Rao. Karen, you're supposed to be smart!'
She opened the program again and searched for the information on Allura In-Z.
****
Clark Kent stood on the roof of the Daily Star building, hands in his pockets and face turned toward the sky. He was smiling softly.
"Uh, sir?" the other man on the roof spoke up tentatively. "Is... is there a reason we're out here?"
"Of course, Joey," Clark said patiently. '...because Jimmy is covering the story on the new police chief today, and you're the best of the new crop of photographers I've got.' Aloud, he continued, "There's a story here, son. We're just waiting on her to get here."
"Her...?" Joey asked.
The answer came not in words, but in the sight of a red-and-white streak painting the early morning sky. The blur resolved itself into the familiar, smiling face of Supergirl... no longer framed by long blonde locks, but obviously the same young woman. Clark raised an eyebrow at that, and pulled out a pen and memo pad from his pockets.
"Supergirl!" The young photographer gasped.
She wagged one index finger from side to side, a playful smirk on her lips. "Not anymore. And I'm going to debut my new identity today. I thought the Daily Star would like the exclusive story."
"We certainly would, ma'am," Clark replied, trying to keep his voice pleasant. He didn't like the way Joey was looking at his cousin and her new costume.
Kara laughed and floated backward, hands spread out at her sides, to display her new costume. Unlike the blue and red unitard she once wore, the main part of the costume was now a high-necked, sleeveless white leotard with decorative seams radiating from the neckline and wrapping around her thighs. There were matching white gloves on her hands. Fancy gold-colored boots stopped just below her knees, and gold bracers decorated her forearms. Her long cape was still bright red, somewhat poncho-like with a triangular front-piece. She now wore a different abstract symbol in red and yellow on her chest.
"Meet Power Girl!" Kara exclaimed proudly.
****
"Power Girl, hmm?"
Kara looked up. It had been a long day. She and Fury had been trying to bring in a new Doctor Poison, who had released several genetically modified creatures in New York. After rounding them up and turning Doctor Poison over to the authorities, Power Girl had been called in by Aquaman to help stop a tsunami. And then she'd needed to meet with Mr. Barrows as Karen Starr for a progress report on her project for UCC. Then she'd returned to Metropolis in time to stop a cargo ship from crashing into the harbor.
Superman wasn't a full-time hero anymore, but he was a somewhat common sight over Metropolis on days like this. Kara rolled onto her back in mid-air so she could look him in the face.
"Yup. Recognize this, cousin?" She smoothed down the triangular front-piece of her cape to make sure he could see the design.
"It looks Kryptonian," was all he said.
Power Girl grinned. "It's the crest for the House of Z."
Superman traced the letter P in the air and smiled back, "And I can see why it made you think of the word 'Power'."
"Thematic, but not derivative," she replied.
"And the hair?"
Power Girl laughed and gave a little toss of her head, showing off her new pixie cut. "I was changing so much already, and I think it looks good."
"It makes you happy," Superman said simply. "Of course it looks good."
"You know, you're not such a bad sort, cousin," Power Girl replied, with a wink.
*-*-*-*-*-*
This just makes me feel better. So there. :3
Author: D.L.SchizoAuthoress
Rating: PG
Spoilers: speculation based on the World's Finest #1 preview image
Warnings: wild speculation, mild language
Word Count: 3074
Summary: She's Supergirl of Earth-2... but her friend is no longer Robin. It's time for a change.
Note: There are a few instances of "Earth-2 Kryptonese" based on the bits of language I constructed for an RP account. I will translate as needed in brackets nearby. Assume a translation convention on her thoughts, though they'd be mostly in Kryptonese with some code-switching to English.
Word of the Day: filiopietistic, adjective: Pertaining to reverence of forebears or tradition, especially if carried to excess.
The Weight of His History, The Power of Her Spirit
"We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies."
-- Shirley Abbott
"Sorry I startled you, gentlemen. I promised my cousin I'd wait a few more months before revealing myself, but when I saw the trouble you were having, I decided I couldn't wait! My cousin you already know," Kara Zor-L said with a smile, tapping one finger against the insignia on her chest, "as Superman."
Wildcat and the Flash stared at her. Kara smirked.
"You can call me Supergirl."
****
Years later...
"I can't take this anymore!" Kara yelled. Even at her most upset, she managed to modulate her voice to keep from hurting her teammates. Sure, the Justice Society -- especially Wildcat -- seemed to be doing everything possible to piss her off, with the misogynistic and patronizing attitudes they tried to defend as 'old-fashioned', but that didn't mean they'd earned having their eardrums blown out. But she wasn't sure if she could keep her control, so she took to the skies.
'I'm just as good as Superman! Hell, I'm just as old as Superman, when it comes down to it. It isn't my fault that Jor-L had better resources and made a faster rocket -- that Kal arrived decades ahead of me and established his own career as a superhero before I'd made half the trip to Earth.' Kara thought unhappily as she flew higher and higher. The thinning atmosphere didn't bother her -- in marked contrast to her memories of the past seven years on Earth. 'But I'm still treated as a little girl trying to live up to Superman's legacy.'
Kara had feared that this might happen. But she had just as much right to wear the family crest for the House of L. She was proud of her family and her alien heritage, and didn't want to stop displaying her connection to Krypton just because people kept finding her lacking in comparison to Superman.
She was too angry -- Superman would have stayed calm where she lost her temper. She made more mistakes than he ever had -- which she doubted; it had probably just been too long ago for people to remember in detail. She caused more property damage -- a blatant lie; people were just more forgiving of collateral damage in wartime. But public opinion was firm on the matter: she was not as good as Superman. Kara was pretty sure that Supergirl's primary 'sin' was being a super girl.
Her flight path traced the curve of the moon before she sped further from the sun.
'I've put up with it this long... but I don't know if I want to continue swallowing my anger.' Kara scanned the void, letting her mouth curve up into a hard little smile when she caught sight of a meteoroid heading for the Solar System. Given the planetary orbits, it wouldn't hit anything as it tumbled through space... but she could definitely hit it. She glanced back to make sure that the debris wouldn't impact anything, and caught sight of a familiar blue-and-red streak of motion -- her smile faded.
Superman saw that he'd caught her eye, and he indicated the moon -- they would need the atmosphere to carry on the conversation he wanted to have. Kara rolled her eyes and threw a punch at the passing meteoroid. It didn't shatter into pieces, because the blow wasn't aimed properly; only a chunk of it sheared off under her fist, and the trajectory altered so that it was headed toward the asteroid belt. After making sure it wouldn't hurt anything on its altered course, Kara abandoned space and followed her cousin to the surface of the moon.
"Kara, what's going on with you?"
"What's going on with me?" Kara repeated, scowling darkly. "Why is it my fault? Why am I the only one who has to change my behavior when there's a problem?"
"Kara..." he said gently, "am I really the one you're angry with?"
"Yes!" she shouted. "Because you're Superman! Because everyone judges Supergirl on the standard you set, and you're impossible to live up to!"
He reached out, laid one big hand over her shoulder and the other against her cheek. Kara turned away, trying to keep him from feeling the tears that ran down her face. The sadness in his voice made her think she'd probably failed at that:
"I didn't know... I didn't know you felt you had to."
"Well, I do," Kara retorted in a low voice. "That's what everyone else expects me to do when they see our family crest on my chest."
Kal drew her into his arms for a tight hug. Kara's pride made her want to fight the hug off, but she did need the comfort -- she hugged him back just as tightly, grinning when that drew a soft "oof!" of surprise from him.
"I'm sorry, Kara. What can I do to help?"
Kara laughed. Kal's instinct to be a hero was relentless. She pulled back and answered, "I don't know yet. I need to think about what to do. But I don't know if being Supergirl is good for me anymore."
Kal kissed her cheek, smiling with paternal affection. (Maybe it was because they actually were family of some kind, but his attitude had rarely struck her as patronizing.) "You don't have to be Supergirl if you don't want to. Because you'll always be Kara Zor-L, and that's the girl I'm proud of."
****
It was nice to get support from her cousin, but Kara needed something more. She flew home and grabbed a large, prepacked shoulder bag, then headed for Gotham City. It was the matter of seconds, once she arrived at her destination, to quick-change from Supergirl to Karen Starr. She pulled her hair up into a bun and applied a light gloss to her lips at normal speed to finish up, then walked out of the security cameras' blind spot and opened the roof-access door of Cranston, Grayson & Wayne.
The staircase led to a door near the elevator bay, so the partners' receptionist didn't look surprised when Karen Starr strolled up to his desk. "Is Ms. Wayne free, Paul?"
The receptionist consulted something on his computer. "Well, she's got a business lunch set up for later today, Ms. Starr, but it's with the junior partners and I can reschedule... right now she's in a meeting with a client."
"Thanks, Paul, you're fantastic," Karen complimented him with a smile.
"It's only because I legitimately feared for my life when Ms. Wayne found out I'd turned you away the first time." Paul said it with a little smile of his own, but Karen was pretty sure there was truth under the flippant statement.
"Don't be silly," Karen joked back, "If she killed you, she'd have to break in a whole new receptionist, and who has time for that these days?"
Paul chuckled, and Karen took that as a cue to go sit down. He busied himself with shuffling Helena's schedule for tomorrow, and she pulled a black leather portfolio from her shoulder bag and started going over a proposal from the head programmer of her team. Ultimate Computor Corporation, and especially the people she worked directly under, was good about merit-based hiring and promotion. She was being offered a project that might lead to a promotion, same as two men on the team, and was pretty sure she could take on the responsibility.
Karen jotted down a note once she was done going over the details, to remind herself to call Chuck Barrows back after lunch, to accept.
She looked up at the sound of Helena's voice. The attorney was shaking hands with her client, and saying, "Thank you for coming in, Mr. Rivera. I'm sure we have a strong case here."
Karen waited until the man had left to get to her feet and walk over to Helena. Helena smiled brightly at her and pulled her into a hug.
"Hey! I was just about to head to lunch with--"
"With Ms. Starr," Paul interrupted. "I told the junior partners we were rescheduling for tomorrow. No major conflicts, ma'am."
"Thank you, Paul." Helena said gratefully, then sent an amused glance Karen's way. "I'll just get my purse, then. Be right out."
****
When they got to the bar & grill that they often ate lunch at, Karen ordered the prime rib peppersteak sandwich (with a small wood-fired BBQ chicken pizza and double-order of steak fries on the side) while Helena opted for the roasted vegetable wrap. The attorney wasn't a vegetarian, but she also wasn't a Kryptonian and didn't require such a heavy calorie load for the midday meal.
"So," Helena said, setting her Arnold Palmer down after taking a long sip, "is this visit motivated by business or friendship?"
"Seething rage," Karen answered with a wry look, taking a deep drink of her cola.
Helena put a hand to her mouth, affecting a shock that she clearly didn't actually feel. "Uh-oh."
Karen explained -- in a low voice, impossible to understand if one wasn't sitting at their table -- how today's after-skirmish criticisms from "the old guard" had been the last straw, how she'd lost her temper and been confronted by her cousin. She confessed that she was thinking of giving up her identity as Supergirl and making a new one.
"...but I just don't know what to do. Who to be." Karen glanced at Helena, encouraged by the open expression on her friend's face. "And I was hoping... since you've kind of made 'the leap' yourself, that you might have some ideas?"
"Mm," Helena made a thoughtful noise. She'd been a year younger than Karen -- then just Kara Zor-L -- when the other woman had made her debut as Supergirl. She'd also been Robin at the time, a role she'd started as her father's junior partner in the latter half of his crime-fighting career (begun after her mother's untimely death). When she began working at the law firm, Helena had also begun thinking of a different vigilante persona. Her father had died three years ago, when Helena was eighteen. That might have been a good time to make the change, but instead she'd surrendered the "Bat" mantle to Dick Grayson and continued as Robin at his side.
In any case, she had been quite certain of what she didn't want to be. That had been what led her to create and don the identity of the Huntress. She didn't want to continue as Robin, a role she associated with her teenage years. She definitely didn't want another of Dick's hand-me-down identities and dismissed Blackwing out of hand. Taking on Batwoman as an identity would place her firmly in the shadow of Batman, and Catwoman was an emotional landmine she just couldn't deal with yet.
The Huntress was Helena's invention, and Helena was the Huntress. No burdens, no ties to the past that she didn't allow -- an independent heroine.
"I think... you need to think about what you like about your current identity," Helena finally said, in the same low tone to keep from being overheard. As she'd thought of what to say, the two women had started eating their respective lunches in companionable silence. "Why have you kept it so long, when people and their bullshit have bothered you? If you know that reason, you know what you'll want for your new persona."
Karen nodded, mouth too full of pizza to allow conversation without a gross-out. She finished chewing, swallowed, and said, "That makes sense."
As Karen took another swig of cola, Helena asked, "So... do you know why? Wanna talk it out?"
"I'm pretty sure I know why." Karen rolled her eyes fondly as Helena attacked the remaining half of her veggie wrap. "I've got the same heritage as he does, and I don't want to look like I'm giving it up because..." her voice took on a self-mocking note, "people are mean to me."
"Heh."
"Which isn't why I want to change, you know?" Karen shrugged. When Helena nodded, she continued, "People are gonna judge everything I do, it's part of the superhero job. I want them to judge just me. Not me against my cousin."
"You need to do some research into your heritage, I think. Find something that's meaningful, but won't put people in mind of him right away."
****
"Dzma..." [No...]
Kara rolled her eyes and flicked her finger against the computer's touch-screen, dismissing information about ancient Kryptonian gods and goddesses. She was sitting in her Symbioship, floating over the Arctic. (Unlike Kal, she didn't feel the need to build an entire Fortress, but she kept her starship in working condition -- mostly for the memory banks in the shipboard computer.)
"Dzma..."
Another finger-flick dismissed an article on Kryptonian fauna. There was no way she was going to use Rondor or Snagriff as a codename, no matter how badass the animals themselves had been. And Crystal Bird sounded like a stripper name -- the actual Kryptonese name for the animal was far too complicated for English-speakers to pronounce.
"Dzma!" Kara made a face and stabbed her finger against the 'close' button on the screen. She was not going to go by Nightwing or Flamebird. The last thing she needed was for someone to find out the backstory of those names and decide that they could be her partner. "Augh!"
'This is impossible! I have no idea where to start... I'm just... wandering through this information at random.' Kara rested her chin on the palms of both hands and stared moodily at the family crest etched into the top of the touchscreen's frame. After a moment, she sighed and brushed her fingertips against the lines, tracing the diamond shape. "Ukr-te..." [Father...]
She had tried looking up other relatives in the House of L. But it all reminded her too much of Kal. Kara sighed and looked back down at her hand, only to find that it had drifted to the control panel that would activate the virtual simulator -- or at least, that panel would, if she hadn't disconnected the controls her first week on Earth, destroying one of the important components with heat vision.
The temptation to immerse herself in the familiar virtual environment -- the Krypton that her parents had programmed to occupy her mind on her long journey -- was strong at times, stronger when she was feeling emotional. Kara didn't want to risk losing herself in a simulation when people needed her in the real world. (She could, of course, reconstruct the component, but that would take time and engage the logical part of her brain. She wanted it to be more complicated than entering commands with a keypad.)
That didn't mean that she stopped missing her parents. Her father... her mother...
"Ieiu-te!" [Mother!] Kara shouted, slapping her forehead. 'Oh, Rao. Karen, you're supposed to be smart!'
She opened the program again and searched for the information on Allura In-Z.
****
Clark Kent stood on the roof of the Daily Star building, hands in his pockets and face turned toward the sky. He was smiling softly.
"Uh, sir?" the other man on the roof spoke up tentatively. "Is... is there a reason we're out here?"
"Of course, Joey," Clark said patiently. '...because Jimmy is covering the story on the new police chief today, and you're the best of the new crop of photographers I've got.' Aloud, he continued, "There's a story here, son. We're just waiting on her to get here."
"Her...?" Joey asked.
The answer came not in words, but in the sight of a red-and-white streak painting the early morning sky. The blur resolved itself into the familiar, smiling face of Supergirl... no longer framed by long blonde locks, but obviously the same young woman. Clark raised an eyebrow at that, and pulled out a pen and memo pad from his pockets.
"Supergirl!" The young photographer gasped.
She wagged one index finger from side to side, a playful smirk on her lips. "Not anymore. And I'm going to debut my new identity today. I thought the Daily Star would like the exclusive story."
"We certainly would, ma'am," Clark replied, trying to keep his voice pleasant. He didn't like the way Joey was looking at his cousin and her new costume.
Kara laughed and floated backward, hands spread out at her sides, to display her new costume. Unlike the blue and red unitard she once wore, the main part of the costume was now a high-necked, sleeveless white leotard with decorative seams radiating from the neckline and wrapping around her thighs. There were matching white gloves on her hands. Fancy gold-colored boots stopped just below her knees, and gold bracers decorated her forearms. Her long cape was still bright red, somewhat poncho-like with a triangular front-piece. She now wore a different abstract symbol in red and yellow on her chest.
"Meet Power Girl!" Kara exclaimed proudly.
****
"Power Girl, hmm?"
Kara looked up. It had been a long day. She and Fury had been trying to bring in a new Doctor Poison, who had released several genetically modified creatures in New York. After rounding them up and turning Doctor Poison over to the authorities, Power Girl had been called in by Aquaman to help stop a tsunami. And then she'd needed to meet with Mr. Barrows as Karen Starr for a progress report on her project for UCC. Then she'd returned to Metropolis in time to stop a cargo ship from crashing into the harbor.
Superman wasn't a full-time hero anymore, but he was a somewhat common sight over Metropolis on days like this. Kara rolled onto her back in mid-air so she could look him in the face.
"Yup. Recognize this, cousin?" She smoothed down the triangular front-piece of her cape to make sure he could see the design.
"It looks Kryptonian," was all he said.
Power Girl grinned. "It's the crest for the House of Z."
Superman traced the letter P in the air and smiled back, "And I can see why it made you think of the word 'Power'."
"Thematic, but not derivative," she replied.
"And the hair?"
Power Girl laughed and gave a little toss of her head, showing off her new pixie cut. "I was changing so much already, and I think it looks good."
"It makes you happy," Superman said simply. "Of course it looks good."
"You know, you're not such a bad sort, cousin," Power Girl replied, with a wink.
*-*-*-*-*-*
This just makes me feel better. So there. :3